titan_uranus

And Hilfenhaus. For this reason, I think we will be mighty competitive in the Ashes. Unlike in 2009, we'll be able to take wickets. Batting obviously needs to improve, but I don't think we'll be scrogged like we were four years ago.

Definitely a choke, the chase wasn't huge, we had the batting power, but our top order didn't fire and we left too much to the end, and even then, we needed 9 off the last two overs with 3 wickets in hand. Should have got the job done, I think. And it was at the MCG, home ground advantage. Stosur is a worse choker, though, I'll pay that.

Victorian Bushrangers - biggest chokers in Australian sport?

Yep, more than happy to admit my tail is longer than most of the other teams'. Boult and Herath are both capable of scoring a quickfire 30 off about 25 balls, but overall it's definitely a long tail. Unlike others, I don't have someone at 8 who's capable of lasting a while to complement the top order. Haddin I'm not worried about - his current form is good, and he wasn't dropped for form (although he should have been...). Given where I got him in the draft, I was happy with that.

Alright. Let's see how my team stacks up. Alviro Petersen (RSA) - 1589 runs at 38.75, 5/5 (50/100) Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) - 2002 runs at 35.12, 8/5; 34 wickets at 33 Cheteshwar Pujara (India) - 813 runs at 58.07, 1/3 Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI) - 10,696 runs at 51.67, 61/27 Ian Bell (Eng) - 5699 runs at 46.71, 34/17 Dean Brownlie (NZ) - 547 runs at 34.18, 4/1 Brad Haddin (Aus) - 2257 runs at 35.82, 10/3; 160 catches, 4 stumpings Rangana Herath (SL) - 186 wickets at 29.95 Trent Boult (NZ) - 30 wickets at 31.43 Steve Finn (Eng) - 70 wickets at 28.22 Jackson Bird (Aus) - 11 wickets at 16.18 So on paper the averages and stats don't stand out as amazing, but let's dissect. First of all, I have the world number 3 batsman, Chanderpaul, a proven star. He heads my middle order, ably supported by Ian Bell, who has come into his prime, is world number 16, and whose average has climbed past 45. I have India's most promising young batsman, Cheteshwar Pujara, at 3, a man who plays like Rahul Dravid and has better stats at this early stage in his career. He dominated England with consecutive centuries and looks likely to hold the number 3 for India for a decade. I've also got New Zealand's Dean Brownlie, who is coming off a great tour of South Africa, knocking off a 50 and a century against the best bowling attack bar none. Opening, I have South Africa's stylish Alviro Petersen, who with Graeme Smith forms, IMO, the best opening partnership in Test cricket at the moment, and Mohammad Hafeez, who has captained Pakistan and who also is my spin-bowling all-rounder (a bit of a golden arm for the Pakistanis, actually). My keeper is Haddin, a man who would get a game for most other countries as keeper, and whose form is still good enough to play Test cricket. More than happy to have him coming in at 7. Bowling-wise, I have the world's number 4 ranked bowler, Rangana Herath, who has tussled with Saeed Ajmal for the title of best spinner over the last two years. For pace, I have one of Australia's new pace prospects, Jackson Bird, who starred in his two chances against the Lankans, plus Steve Finn, England's tidy yet consistent wicket taker, and Trent Boult, a left-armer who has taken most of his wickets in his last 4 or so Tests, and who can also add handy lower order runs (e.g. see the Hobart Test of 2011). Overall, the numbers don't stand out, but keep in mind I had to pick last in Round 1, and last in the final round too.

Standard problems in India. Batsmen can't play spin (over the summer England's batsmen had no trouble whatsoever with Ashwin, Harbhajan or Jadeja, only Ojha troubled them), bowlers struggled to take wickets. Yes, we played pacemen, but does anyone honestly think Xavier Doherty is any better, despite being a spinner, than Starc? Of course he isn't. The raw fact is, we don't have any decent spinners, and our pacemen aren't good enough to pick up all the slack. England dominated India's weak batting line up because they had Swann and Panesar. Lyon isn't half as good as either of them. Doherty isn't half as good as Lyon. We're going to struggle if Pattinson, Siddle and Starc can't take 8 wickets, to go with Lyon's 2 he'll generally get. But more importantly, we're going to struggle if we can't bat against their spinners.

Sorry, still haven't had time to sit down and spruik my team. Tomorrow, hopefully.

I haven't got time at the moment to write up my side, I'll do it later tonight. Suffice to say, I think I can compete with any other team here, but I wouldn't be upset if my team wasn't voted the best, as there are some other equally strong teams.

Lyon chipping in nicely with Tendulkar and Kohil. Timely wicket of Kohli, too. Still in front by 56, with a chance to knock off the tail hopefully and not be too far behind.

We really need to get one of these two out early (preferably Tendulkar). Their tail starts now, pretty much. Jadeja, Dhoni and Ashwin are the next three, they're all 'all-rounders'. They can all bat a bit, but none are proper batsmen. I'll feel a lot better once we take one more wicket.

From left field slightly: Pick 88 - Dean Brownlie (NZ) He's the highest ranked batsmen (who isn't Bangladeshi) remaining. His stats are equal or better than any other remaining batsmen, and he recently managed a 100 and 50 in four innings against South Africa, in South Africa. He also looked decent enough against us last summer. I'll take that for 88.

So whose pick is it?

Actually, I can do this now. No one took who I was considering. Pick 72 - Brad Haddin (Australia) I know it's possible that he may never play again, but I need a keeper. There aren't any decent ones left, and frankly, Haddin is better than most other countries' keepers. Pick 73 - Trent Boult (New Zealand). I need a Kiwi. He's taken some wickets recently, so that'll do.

Sorry guys, I've been indisposed the last 24 hours, unable to even check in. I'll have a think tonight and hopefully choose (it's tough having to pick two every time!).

Nah don't worry about a 12th man. It's just the luck of the draw, unfortunately.

Just realise I get dudded in this. 11 picks means 11 rounds which means one odd round where I get to pick last again. Woot. Thanks HT. Haha. I guess you all needed the assistance after I clearly picked the best team the last time we did this.

Great pick up.

Awks. I searched for his name, must have spelled it wrongly. OK. Back up plan. Round 8, Pick 57 - Jackson Bird (Australia) Need an Aussie anyway.

Round 7, Pick 56 - Ian Bell (England) Round 8, Pick 57 - Tim Southee (New Zealand) Jackson Bird (Australia) Hope Southee's the Kiwi Nasher was referring to. He's playing some good cricket at the moment, to be honest. 20 wickets in his last three tests, all away in the subcontinent. Given what's left out there, and that I need someone from NZ, I'll take it. Bell is in the top 20 batsmen according to rankings, so that's not a bad get 56 picks into the draft, I'd say.

Indeed. But I've only been doing that for 2 minutes. Have been at work all day, but work is over now for a while, so I'll have more time to think. I'll consider my options and decide tonight.

I had to follow it online at work. I almost gave up at 28-6, but the power outage caught my attention. Lucky it did. I haven't seen the full game or replay, but I have seen the last fourth down attempt we had. I saw holding/PI. Oh well, I'm sure there were others. Looks like CK took a half to get over the nerves. Flacco had a dominant postseason, deserved the MVP from what I've seen/read. Once again, the Super Bowl winning side is one with a low-ish seed, without having a stellar regular season, but who peaked at the right time. Giants last year, Packers the year before, all similar. Timing is everything.

Pick 40 - Cheteshwar Pujara (India) Pick 41 - Alviro Petersen (RSA) My man Hafeez, my opening batsman, last night took 4-for against the Proteas. Broke the de Villiers-du Plessis partnership. Golden arm. Tick.

Pick 24 - Steve Finn (England) Pick 25 - Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan)

Amazing two Championship games. Giving up a 17-0 start, on the road, I wasn't confident. But we really did play great football to win the game. I was so happy with that performance. Baltimore played fantastically too, to beat New England, so it's going to be close. We've got to stop the run, first of all, and our secondary needs to do better than Denver and New England. Both those sides gave up far too many big plays (Champ Bailey on Torrey Smith, e.g.). If our defence stands up to its ability, I think we can restrict their scoring enough to get the win. It's nice barracking for a team that's made it to the last game. Horrendously, though, I'll be at work on the day and won't be able to watch it. Shattered.

Ridiculous weekend of football. Denver-Baltimore was an epic game. To give up those two big special team TDs but fightback to maintain level scores, on the road, with Denver off a bye, was huge. No idea why Denver took a knee at the end. Peyton was good, but three turnovers isn't good enough for a playoff. I felt all year they were pretenders, only beating two teams with winning records (Baltimore and Cincinnati) in their 13 wins. Still thought they'd have the Ravens' measure though. SF - wow. Even I didn't think we could get it together like that. Kaepernick like that makes us a hot chance. Of course, it might not be like that on the road, but still, almost 200 rushing yards is insane. Seattle-Atlanta was incredible. You always felt Seattle could do it if they got on a roll, and in the second half their offence was unstoppable. Atlanta couldn't get them off the field. Unfortunately for the Seahawks, though, they made some unforgivable errors. Mucking up on 4th down late in the 2nd, and then not getting a score from the final drive of the first half, were two massive mistakes. And when their defence needed just one block or one tackle, they let Matt Ryan drive the field for the game-winning FG. Mind you, Atlanta wasn't going to let Seattle make all the mistakes - that last kickoff was atrocious! Houston-NE was...well...predictable. Quite unbelievable that after such an even season with so many teams playing well, 3 of the final 4 teams this year are from last year. This year, though, despite being on the road and not home, I feel SF has a better chance to make the Superbowl. Atlanta doesn't scare me as much as Seattle does, I think we can take their defence and we have the personnel to stop their offence. Should be great. NE should beat Baltimore at home, but Baltimore at its best can pull it off. Still tipping NE-SF for the grand finale.